No Ariz. law exists mandating lunch breaks

I am an employee on salary. I know that if you are an hourly employee, you are required by law to take a lunch break. My new manager stated that even if I am a salaried employee, I am also required by law to take a 15-minute lunch break. But my previous manager stated otherwise, which is why I had been working eight hours without a lunch break. Who was right? Am I required to take a break?

Isaac P. Hernandez

Hernandez Law Firm

My answer does not address the issue of salaried vs. hourly, which is an important issue but beyond the scope of this response. Instead, this response addresses a more general question of whether employees are required by law to take a lunch break.

In Arizona, there is no law that requires employees to take a lunch break or any other break during a scheduled work shift. In fact, Arizona employers are not required to provide employees any break time at all during a scheduled work shift. Arizona employers are, however, required to pay employees for all the time they work.

With regard to break times, employers are generally obligated to pay employees for short breaks but not required to pay employees for longer breaks. Though the law is somewhat unclear as to what constitutes a short break or a long break, employers can apply some general rules of thumb to meal and break policies to avoid potential violations of wage and hour laws. Breaks of 10 minutes or less should not be deducted from an employee’s work-time. But employers are not likely to violate wage and hour laws if they deduct time for breaks longer than 20 minutes.

Jill Chasson

Coppersmith, Schermer, Brockelman

It sounds like there is some confusion at your company about what the law requires. Neither federal nor Arizona law requires that any employee be given a rest or lunch break, although other states do have such requirements. However, it is possible that your company may require or expect, as a policy matter, that certain employees take breaks. There is nothing wrong with that.

Although the law does not require lunch breaks for Arizona employees, there are some federal guidelines about whether a non-exempt employee must be paid for break time if breaks are offered or required by the employer.

If the break is short, five to 20 minutes, then it must be paid and the time counted in the employee’s work hours for the week.

If an employee takes a bona fide meal break, generally at least 30 minutes, and is completely relieved of duties during that time, the break time need not be paid.

If you are not sure whether your position is considered exempt or non-exempt, you should check with your manager or human-resources department.

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